So, you want to be a star? Well, you’ve got a long way to go. But don’t worry. Stick with me and you’ll go far. The first thing you’ve got to do is be a huge cloud of gas, out in interstellar space. It’ll especially help if you’re a Giant Molecular Cloud. These are regions of Read More …

The other day, I saw a shirt which said “I’m only responsible for what I say, not for what you understand.” At first I laughed and thought “I need a shirt like that”. But then I got to thinking a little more about what it meant. And I realized that it reflects a misconception that Read More …

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson My rating: 5 of 5 stars Seveneves is without a doubt, one of the best science fiction books I have ever read. It is also the first book to make me feel physically stressed. And I mean that this book had so much tension that I could barely handle it. I Read More …

Picture: An artist’s interpretation of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft rendezvousing with the asteroid Bennu. Image credit: NASA One of the challenges we face in astronomy is the fact that we can’t touch the things we study. In chemistry, you can run experiments by mixing chemicals together. In biology, if you want to study mice, you catch Read More …

For me, taking a trip is a time when I am forced to stop what I am doing and experience things at an entirely different pace for a little while. For the duration of my trip, I am removed from my normal routine, and have different set of thoughts on my mind. In my earliest Read More …

I read a lot of webcomics. As my writing this, I actively follow about 20 regularly updating comics, plus a few more that have irregular schedules. Two that I thought were exceptionally great were completed recently, and I thought this was a great chance to talk about some things. First up is Always Human, by Read More …

The Great Passage by Shion Miura My rating: 4 of 5 stars One of the benefits of owning a Kindle and having an Amazon Prime membership is that they give you a free book each month (from a selection of six). This month, I downloaded The Great Passage and was pleasantly surprised at its depth Read More …

Current mood: Embers by Owl City. Current weather: Rainy and cloudy, but the sun’s showing in the West. This weekend, I went on a trip back to my alma mater, Washington State University (Go Cougs!). It was the last chance I’d have to go before a lot of my friends graduated and left. All in Read More …

Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars by Nathalia Holt My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book details the history of women at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It focuses on how their accomplishments helped send the United States to the planets, and how their Read More …

Recently I came across an old notebook of mine which I had used for doodles and creative writing. I had some poems in there that actually sounded pretty good, so I thought I’d post them here for people to read. They are free-form and don’t rhyme. Here they are, I hope you enjoy. Slate The sky, Read More …